


Always By Your Side (OLD)

by klonoafan5



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, Angst, Experimental Torture, Family Bonding, Fluff, Gen, Heartwarming (at first), Loss of Innocence, Tearjerker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-02
Updated: 2017-08-18
Packaged: 2018-12-10 10:09:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 3,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11689461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/klonoafan5/pseuds/klonoafan5
Summary: Young Maria Robotnik looked out the window, her blue eyes meeting with the blue planet before her. Not being with her family as well as being the only child in the ARK (besides the GUN general's son, who visits from time to time) made her feel very lonely. Until a shocking discovery in her grandpa's lab changes her life for the better.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the start of a AU I recently thought up of, consisting of a role reversal between Shadow and Sonic. 
> 
> It has a few different twists and turns from canon, and the story is currently in development, but I hope you enjoy it!

Young Maria Robotnik looked out the window, her blue eyes meeting with the blue planet before her. Not being with her family as well as being the only child in the ARK (besides the President's son, who visits from time to time) made her feel very lonely.

The blonde sighed before she continued walking down the wide hallways of the space station, deeply wishing that her grandpa could be done with his meetings.

Well, maybe she could check out his lab. She has been hearing of a new project currently in development.

_Grandpa would've show it to me once he's finished anyways. A little sneak peek wouldn't hurt anyone._

With a adventurous smile on her face, Maria headed to her new destination.

 

When the coast is clear, the young girl snuck inside without a single sound.

The door automatically shut behind her as she looked around in awe to see all of his work and blueprints. Until she stopped to see a capsule in front of her.

She then noticed that something was inside and came closer. What's inside this?

Inside the capsule was a human like hedgehog, the latter was about the same height and size as her. His quilts were big and blue along with his body and legs, except for his tan muzzle, belly, and arms.

All of a sudden, the hedgehog's eyes immediately opened, giving her a slight shock. But that shock was replaced with wonder as blue eyes met with green.

"Whoa..."

 

Out of nowhere, the door automatically opened, causing her to hide beside the machine.

"Maria? Are you in here?"

She immediately relaxed once she heard that old yet gentle voice.

She came out with a smile. "Yes, Grandpa."

Gerald smiled. "Maria, there you are. What are you doing here in this dingy old lab?"

"It was boring waiting for you, so I thought maybe I could take a sneak peek on the project you've been working on."

The scientist looked up to see the hedgehog was awake. "Oh, you finally woke up from your sleep. I suppose now you probably want to stretch your legs."

A smile grew on his face as he nodded eagerly, causing him to laugh. "Okay, okay, I'll release you now."

The professor pushed the button next to him, freeing the blue hedgehog from his capsule. He looked around and slowly stepped out of it, only to stop after wobbling a bit. Cautious, he looked up at Maria to see she had the answers.

"You can do it. Just take your time and put one foot in front of each other."

He cautiously walked out and started to slowly take step after step until he successfully came over.

"You did it! You learned how to walk! Congratulations, Sonic!" Maria smiled with glee as she gave him a hug, shocking the young hedgehog a bit. He stood there before slowly wrapping his arms around her and hugged her back.

"Sonic?" Gerald asked curiously. Maria nodded after separating from the hug. "Yep, everyone deserves to have a name. Especially him."

The old professor smiled at her young yet somewhat mature sense of logic. "Very well then. Sonic it is."

  
"Come on, Sonic!" She then gently grabbed him by the hand and started running down the hallways. "I can't wait to show you around!"

Gerald chuckled at the heartwarming sight. "Those two go together like two peas in a pod." His smile then faded as he turned around and went over to his desk, which had data on the powerful Chaos Emeralds, particularly the Master Emerald and its guardian, the water deity himself.

"Even though I can't help but wonder how long their relationship would last..."


	2. Chapter 2

Sonic and Maria ran across the hallways of the space colony together.

"Hey, you two! No running in the ARK."

"Sorry!" The blue adolescent hedgehog apologized. "We won’t do it again." She said politely. However, it didn't take them long until the assistant left for those two to kneel down and look each other with mischievous grins on their faces, trying their best to hold in their laughter.

"You put the whoopie cushions on their seats?"

"Yep, they never spotted me at all." Sonic smirked. "Now," they peeked out from the window above them. "Let's watch and see the magic."

They watched as they all went over to their seats and sit down.

"Here it comes..."

All of a sudden, a loud orchestra of fart noises all came out at once, leaving the scientists bewildered and confused while the two laughed at their well placed prank.

The two of them both stopped once they saw the looks on their faces except for Gerald.

"Whoops, got to go!"

Sonic then gently grabbed her hand and ran off while the other scientists chased after them, even though they all knew that they can't catch up to the blue blur.

Gerald just smiled as he watched the whole scene unfold.

It's only been a few months since Sonic was released and the hedgehog grew exponentially, in physical, emotional, and mental terms, even though it doesn't really seem like it to the other scientists. Not only that, but his bond with Maria has grown quite a lot too. He hadn't seen his granddaughter this happy since she lived back on Earth with her parents.

He began to notice that her physical strength has also improved since then. At this rate, her illness may be cured.

Now if only he could take care of a certain obstacle, things could be looking up.

_If only..._

  
Meanwhile, said hedgehog and girl was still running, the latter was huffing and puffing. "Sonic...Can we stop here please?"

He paused, remembering that Maria was ill, therefore having a low stamina and couldn't run or do any cardiovascular activity for too long.

Knowing that, he screeched into a halt. "Sorry Maria, I forgot you were sick."

"It's okay, Sonic." She then stopped and stepped up to the giant window, showing the bright and blue planet in front of her eyes.

"Look! There's the planet Earth!"

The hedgehog looked down at the planet before them in awe. "Someday, when I get better, you, me, and Grandpa will go back and live together. We could become a real family."

Sonic was about to say something until he got interrupted by sudden footsteps.

"A family? Hah! Anything with this freak would be a disaster."

In front of them was the head of GUN's son, Abraham. The brunet looked at the two with a cocky grin on his face.

"Stop being a jerk, Abraham." Maria glared. "You're just acting this way because you're jealous."

"What? Jealous? Of this freaky project over there?"

"I have a name." Sonic muttered angrily.

"What? Oh, so it can speak now, huh? Took you long enough. Can you repeat that? I didn't hear you clearly."

"I said," The hedgehog frowned. "I have a name. It's Sonic and I'm not a freak. I'm a hedgehog."

"A hedgehog? Well, you look like a rat to me."

The two glared at each other in a intense staredown until Maria went in front of them.

"Guys, stop it already. There will be no fighting while I'm around."

"Okay, I'll leave you and your "friend" alone. Oh, and Sonic?" He looked at them with a smile on his face. "Hope you don't hurt yourself during the testing."

The cobalt hedgehog stood there, his rage turned to confusion as they watched him leave.

She gave him a comforting smile. "Don't listen to Abraham, Sonic. That guy only likes to get you angry. It only makes bullies like him to continue to act like bullies. You need to learn to stand up and ignore that kind of stuff, okay?"

Still worried about the thing he mentioned, he decided to ask the professor about it later. For now, he has some more fun to do.

"Okay."


	3. Chapter 3

"Blast it!" Gerald punched his desk in anger and frustration. He suddenly stopped to see the door open, only to be revealed to be Sonic.  
"Did I come at a bad time?"

He sighed, calming himself down. "No...It's alright. You can come in." The hedgehog closed the door before him. "I suppose Maria's in bed?"

"Yeah, she's just taking it easy while the nurses give her daily medicine. Doc, do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"Sonic, you can ask me anything and I'll tell you. I may be your creator, but I'm also human too."

"Abraham mentioned something about some sort of....testing. I just wanted to ask what kind of testing it is."

The smile on the professor's face faded. "Dang it, he wasn't supposed to tell you until you were ready...."

"Ready?" Sonic paused. "Ready for what?"

"Sonic....you do know that your entire body is stored with a lot of chaos energy, right?"

"Yeah, you used the energy of the Chaos and Master Emeralds."

"I'm...afraid Sonic, that what I told you isn't the full story."

"It isn't?"

"Not only did I used the power of the emeralds, I also used the DNA of the one who protected it as well as a mural predicting a young hedgehog battling against a evil man hidden underneath ancient ruins as a guideline to make you who you are today. And with your affinity with that energy, you could hopefully heal my granddaughter as well as make the world a better place. But some people aren't so keen into making you its savior. Instead, they want to use you as a weapon for their own purposes and be a harbinger of war."

The hedgehog huffed. “Harbinger of war, huh? Trust me, Doc, the last thing I would ever do is follow some maniac's orders. It's always been Maria's dream to go back to Earth with you and me as a family, and as whatever god is out there is my witness, I _will_ make that happen. And a hedgehog never backs down on his word."

"Well, that's good." They turned around to see the GUN general himself. "You know what they say, a obedient weapon is a reliable weapon."

"So," Sonic walked up and crossed his arms. "You're the one who wants me to do your dirty work. Well, General, I'm afraid that I'm not going to do that." He then turned his back on him, causing him to smile.

"Oh, I bet you will. After all, you don't want Maria to get hurt, don't you?" The cobalt blue hedgehog froze, his gloved hand balled up into a fist as he turned around.

" _You wouldn't dare._ "

A smirk grew on his face. "I would."

That simple sentence made him snap and almost attacked him before the GUN soldiers stopped him by holding him down.

"Let me at him! Let me go!" He struggled to break free, but the only thing he could do is look up at him in rage. "I swear, if you dare hurt her or anyone else, I'll-!"

"Send him away."

"No, I won't let you do this! I'll break out, you hear me?! I'll do it and when I do, I'm going to-"

They threw him into a room all by himself. "Stay right here and wait for instructions. The General will be coming soon. Even your precious Maria will be here too."

He started to take a break for it towards the door so he could be free, but the door slammed before he could, leaving Sonic trapped.

"Hey!" He banged the wall loudly. "Get me out of here! I need to heal her so she could get out of here!"

After his attempts have been fruitless, he backed away and sat down in defeat. "I made a promise..."

He sat there for a while until his ears picked a loud beeping noise coming from the speakers.

" _Stand up, you defect."_

He frowned as he stood up. "Why? What do I have to do so badly that you guys have to tore me away from everyone I loved?!"

All of a sudden, he picked up the sound of footsteps coming from behind, only to turn around to see some life sized robots.

A cocky smirk grew his face. "Oh, I get it. You want me to beat up these robots, right?" Suddenly, he screamed as his body was shocked with electricity. He panted when he stopped.

"What the heck, man?! Are you trying to kill me?"

" _Enough talking and just do it. Or else I won't be so kind."_

Sonic frowned. "Fine. I'll do what you want." He said begrudgingly before proceeding to attack them. "For now." He whispered to himself.

 

The young hedgehog smirked as he did the finishing blow on another launch of robots.

"Wow, this is easier than I thought! Hey big guy, how about you up your game? Or are you afraid that I can break them faster then you can bring them out?"

He suddenly flinched when he felt a mighty punch launching him to the wall. Sonic groaned as he looked up to see a towering robot in front of him.

" _Be careful what you wish for, project. You might as well get it."_


	4. Chapter 4

Sonic tried to stand up, only to get caught by one of the robot's hands. He struggled to break free and screamed in agony as it crushed his body.

" _Stop! You're hurting him!"_

The hedgehog slowly opened his eyes weakly when his ears picked a familiar voice he hadn't heard in a while.

"M-Maria?" The robot squeezed its fist even more before he could say anything else.

He clenched his hands into fists as his rage kept piling up until he couldn't contain it anymore.

" ** _Enough!"_** His fur was completely black as he broke free from the robot's grasp. He dodged its attacks before he attacked it mercilessly. A sadistic, maniac grin grew on his face as he continued to beat it until it could barely move. 

He was about to finish the job when all of a sudden, he felt a warm embrace coming from his back.

"Please stop, Sonic....It's over. You won."

His crismon eyes widened once he realized who was behind him. His fur slowly changed back to its cobalt shade as he calmed down. 

Meanwhile, Gerald gave the General a stern look.

"I'm still going to continue the mission."

"Don't you already see what happened to him back there? If you push him too far, the energy inside him will start to become negative. And negative chaos energy isn't something you would want to mess with."

"Yes, it would be terrible. For the people on the other side. I'll leave you alone to think about it."

"He's not just a machine! He's a living, breathing being with feelings just like the rest of us!"

"It isn't a he, it's a project made for these kind of conditions. And if you do want your precious granddaughter to get out here, I advise you to agree with me."

The General left, leaving the professor to look back at the training area, where the two teens were comforting each other silently.


	5. Chapter 5

Sonic sat in his room, looking out of the window silently. He then stopped to hear the door open and frown in disgust. 

"What is it now? I've fighting robots left and right non stop all week and not for once have you given me a break. Well, I had it with yo-" 

He stopped once his eyes met with blue, not brown. His rage then subsided a bit. 

"Sorry Maria, I didn't mean to yell at you like that. I thought you were the General and his lackeys." 

"It's okay, Sonic. Are you feeling?" 

"Physically? I'm okay. Those injures I gained are healing a bit faster now." 

"Mentally?" 

He sat on his bed. "Like a monster. Abraham was right. If you and Doc keep hanging out with me, I'll put you both in danger." 

Maria frowned. "Sonic Maurice Robotnik, you and I both know that you're anything but a monster." 

"But what about what happened to me back there last week? If you hadn't stopped me, I could've-!" He then stopped, realizing that his fur was turning black. He averted his eyes away from her. 

"I don't want to hurt any of you...." 

"Trust me, you won't." 

He looked up at her. "How do you know?" She smiled as she sat next to him. "Because that's just the way you are." 

 

Sonic sat there, letting the comforting words sink into his mind, so he won't forget this moment for as long as he lives. 

A smile grew on his muzzle. "Thanks." 

"Of course, everyone needs a little cheering up once and a while. You want to go prank the scientists again?"

That smile then turned to a smirk. "I thought you would never ask."


	6. Chapter 6

Gerald was busy experimenting until he stopped to see his granddaughter come in. "Hey Grandpa, have you seen Sonic anywhere?"

He stopped. "...No I haven't. Not since you and him went out to go prank the assistants again."

"That's odd. Normally, he would be here by now, watching you do your experiments."

"Yes, it is odd. I'll go check in the camera systems." He went over to the computer and looked at every camera in the ARK so far.

Suddenly, he stopped on one of the cameras and froze.

"Grandpa?"

"What is that madman doing?!" He banged onto the table before getting up. "Quickly! We have to stop them before it's too late!"

 

Meanwhile, said hedgehog was screaming in pain as the chaos drives were forcibly absorbed into his body.

The General looked at the process with sadistic glee. "Aren't so cocky now, huh Sonic?"

To his surprise, he was silent. In frustration, he pushed the button, causing it hurt twice as much.

"Not talking?" He was about to push the button again when he stopped to notice his body was changing. His cobalt blue fur lightened to a bright yellow, his quills became more spikier than usual as they slowly lift up.

"General! I'm getting high chaos energy levels from this. We should stop before this whole room explodes!"

He was about to say something until Gerald and Maria barged in. They both stop to see what was going on.

"Oh no...It's happening." He frowned once he realized that his suspicions were coming true.

One of the assistants looked up at their leader. "What should we do?"

"Stop this! Stop this immediately before we all get in danger!"

"No." He paused to see the General. "Keep going. I want to see what happens next."

Maria looked at him with rage in her eyes. "You monster! How could you do this to him?!"

"Him? You mean, the project?"

Gerald's eyebrows furrowed in tranquil fury. "You know what she meant, you crazed megalomaniac."

In the background, the hedgehog immediately woke up, his eyes were now replaced with wild red swirls as he looked all over the place.

His mind was a bit scrambled due to the influx of unstable energy inside him, but it eventually cleared up when he saw Gerald. The aura inside him pacified along with his expression as happy memories came back to him.

Then, his inner rage rose when he laid eyes on the man in front of him. He growled as he broke free of his restraints and flew over to the glass.

"Sir, he's loose." He smirked. "Don't be so shocked. That glass is unbreakable. He can't go through."

He immediately regretted what he said as his fists went through, sending shards everywhere. Everyone ducked as they flew out.

The feral hedgehog landed, his eyes set on his target. "General..." He slowly walked towards him.

His pressing aura automatically pushed everyone else out the way.

He immediately grabbed the man and punched him in the gut, causing him to fall in pain. After that, he raised him up by the collar, his other hand sparking with electricity.

"Sonic, stop!" The hedgehog froze when he heard her shout. He stood there, blinking as his swirling eyes became red pupils with lines around them. "Maria..?" His voice was a bit raspy, but still retained his usual tone.

"Please..." He froze, allowing the General to use this moment as a advantage and punch him into the wall.

The super hedgehog tried his best to stand up only to get crushed in the stomach by his boot. He screamed in anguish. "You should've finish me off, project. Too bad you'll never get the chance once I crush you like the scum you are."

"Let go of him!" He suddenly stopped once she jumped on his back. "Agh!"

He threw her off of him, sending her to the floor. "Maria!"

With the odds in his favor, he ignited his hands with electricity and shocked him. The General fell into the floor, completely unconscious.

Maria, Gerald, and Sonic all stood there along with the rest of the scientists.

The golden hedgehog looked at the others. They all looked at him in fear. He understood why.

"Sonic..." The detransformed hedgehog slowly backed away, his ears drooped as he heard Maria call his name.

He shut his eyes as he ran out of the room. "Sonic!"

 


	7. Chapter 7

He ran as fast as he could and never looked back. "There he is!"

The sound of thundering footsteps of GUN soldiers chased him down the hallways until he reached a dead end.

The hedgehog turned around until he felt a hand gently grab him by the arm. A part of him relaxed when he saw it was Maria. "Come on! I know where to go!"

"Get them!"

The two ran until they reached a big room with a bunch of controls. The door shut behind them, leaving the two alone for now.

"Stand on that platform." Sonic and Maria froze when they heard a loud noise at the door.

"We demand that you get out here immediately with the project."

She looked back at him. "Hurry!"

He didn't question her motive as he stood on the platform. All of a sudden, a glass pod came out of a nowhere, trapping Sonic inside.

 _Wait...This is a Escape pod!_ He banged on the glass, trying his best to break out.

She just looked at him with a sad smile.

"I'm so sorry for deceiving you, Sonic. But it's for the best. You and Grandpa can go to Earth, but I can't. I guess we can't all be a family like I promised we could..."

"Miss! Step away from the control pad or I'll shoot!"

She held on to the switch as tightly as she could as a sign of defiance.

"Just promise me one last thing....No matter what happens, always be yourself. The world needs a hero like you."

When the switch was pushed, the sound of a bullet getting shot of a gun echoed throughout the room.

Maria said something to Sonic but he couldn't hear over the piercing sound of the gun.

But after her body collapsed, he realized what she said.

" _Thank you, Sonic. For being the best friend a girl could have."_

Shaking, he fell to his knees as he started bursting into tears. All of his rage and grief bottled up inside him came out all at once.

" _MARIA!"_

With a loud cry, the Escape pod launched straight out of the ARK and into the vast starry sky of space.

Until he couldn't see it anymore.


End file.
